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Geothermal energy, decarbonisation and the just transition: developments in governance and regulation
No full textThis review article pursues this special issue’s theme of renewable energy and just transition into the field of geothermal energy, an energy source which has a special role in Aotearoa New Zealand, and which raises clear questions of justice in the energy transition. It evaluates the track record, and examines the legal, regulatory and institutional challenges and opportunities for a just transition for geothermal in New Zealand. It particularly considers the role of Māori, and the challenges presented by emerging technological change. It considers the problems of renewability and sustainability that are special to geothermal resources. It evaluates the just transition issues that have particularly affected Māori landowners and holders of mana whenua. It finds that what constitutes a just transition must be seen against a longer historical time frame than many observers might assume. It shows that the distinctive regulatory framework for geothermal has been considerably affected by addressing these problems but may need to adapt further in the future. It considers the technical features that have shaped geothermal regulation and are likely to shape it in the future as new technological options emerge
Queering the Real: Antisociality and the impossible nothing of queer
No full textThis project charts a logic of queer antisociality along literary, cinematic, and theoretical works. Reading across a collection of textual case studies from Gertrude Stein, Herman Melville, and Samuel Beckett, as well as films from Derek Jarman and David Cronenberg, this thesis thinks through antisociality, employing it as a critical approach to reconcile moments of textual disorientation as queer encounter. The ambition of this thesis is not to designate certain works as queer texts, or to suggest a unifying queer thread across them; it is the very nature of queer as resistant to coherence and continuity that such a task could only ever fail. Rather, reading through antisociality offers a way to think queerness beyond a rubric of sexual difference as what frustrates or works against established forms of knowledge and trace modes of queer negation along inconsistent lines as aporetic junctures, opacity, and incoherence.
This approach is developed in conversation with Lee Edelman’s Bad Education where he conceptualises queer aligned to the incomprehensibility of the Lacanian Real – as being outside of identity markers or systems of recognition. Queer as such does not locate an ontology or a sexuality, but rather resists determinate meaning and troubles categorisation; queer is that which disturbs coherence. To think queerness then, Edelman suggests, is to think beyond the structural limits of language. Following this invocation to think queerly beyond structures of knowledge, this project contemplates its application and details what it might look like to do so. Each chapter then illustrates forms of queer negation that resist the controls immanent in language, and articulates antisociality as a way of thinking, and indeed a way of reading, attuned to semiological abstractions and improper grammar as queer methods of resistance.
Since queer cannot be secured within language, this thesis works to reframe incoherence as queer encounter that changes shape across whatever given literary or visual landscapes. Antisociality then operates as a conceptual lens to locate queer not as content but as form: as structural idiosyncrasies that frustrate comprehension and unsettle conventional logic. Writing this thesis and working across different texts and mediums then allowed for a mapping of the different ways that queer is discursively constructed while simultaneously conceptualising modes of resistance that work against these constructions
Letter to the Editor concerning ‘The Calf Raise App shows good concurrent validity compared with a linear encoder in measuring total concentric work’: Let's not compare apples to oranges
No full textThe authors state that this study was designed as a validity study, yet it appears to be an add‐on to another prospectively registered study (NCT05323773) with no initial intention of concurrent validation of the Calf Raise App. To properly assess the validity of the systems, similar reference points (e.g., the lateral side of the foot) should be used, and outcomes should be compared to a gold standard, such as 3D motion analysis
Teachers’ perspectives on incorporating aspects of Mātauranga Māori in year 9-10 secondary school science classrooms.
No full textScience classrooms in Aotearoa New Zealand may cause some students to feel marginalised. The inclusion of mātauranga Māori offers a diverse perspective on knowledge which may help inclusion of, and understanding for, these learners. This research examines how science teachers include mātauranga Māori in their junior secondary science learning activities.
I am a Pākehā teacher who was born and raised in Hawaii. I have 17 years of science teaching experience in Aotearoa New Zealand. This interpretive, phenomenographic study involved semi-structured interviews with six teachers, all who taught in North Island schools. Five of the six participants were in schools, and one taught in a Kura Kaupapa Māori. Data were gathered about teachers’ understanding of te reo Māori, inclusion of mātauranga Māori in the junior secondary science classroom, and how teachers’ own cultural awareness impacted their practice.
The findings indicate that teachers include mātauranga Māori in their science classrooms in a diverse range of ways. From whole course design to more subtle ways that reflect Māori tikanga and Māori pedagogy. Teachers often faced challenges in including mātauranga Māori in their science classroom and they overcame these by learning te reo, embracing Māori tikanga and continuing to learn to fill the gaps in their knowledge. The context of the school and its community was also a factor, as well as teachers’ personal philosophies about the nature of knowledge.
The findings have implications for initial teacher education and professional learning for the integration of mātauranga Māori into the secondary science classroom
A symbiotic model for transforming public healthcare in New Zealand
No full textGiven the poor state of public healthcare in New Zealand, this study challenges researchers and practitioners to expand their conceptual repertoire beyond mere cost-cutting and piecemeal improvements to consider potentially transformative business models. It invites stakeholders to consider how they ascribe meaning to behaviour, events, and environments when participating in every aspect of healthcare provision.
A Delphi study garnered expert opinion on the ideal healthcare system for New Zealand, which senior District Health Board interviewees confirmed should involve equitable access, patient-centred care, service integration, and shared resources. To deliver this ideal, traditional pipeline model elements and an emergent platform ecosystem were merged, creating a symbiotic, hybrid healthcare concept in which the pipeline’s efficient methodical processes and the platform’s flexible facilitation of patient/provider engagements combine to offer a context-specific approach to healthcare provision, superior value-based outcomes and fair distribution of resources. Model validation extended to consideration of a comprehensive implementation roadmap that emerged from the main mechanisms and stakeholder behaviours required to transform today’s healthcare system.
As the healthcare landscape evolves, embracing dynamic and inclusive approaches that prioritise patients and harness the potential of technological advancements is crucial. By inviting practitioners to reflect on their participation in healthcare provision, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on healthcare delivery models. It provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners navigating the complex world of contemporary healthcare
The Dis/appearing sporting body: the complex embodiment of disabled athletes
No full textThis article critically explores how disability appears and disappears in high-performance sporting environments. Drawing upon symbolic interactionism and embodiment theory, we specifically focus upon disabled athletes’ lived experiences of competing in a pan-disability setting and interrogate the interplay between corporeality and social interaction in the materialising of ability, disability and impairment. In this study, 22 (21 male and one female) disabled athletes participated in online semi-structured interviews. The sample was purposively selected from athletes who had been drafted for the Disability Premier League (DPL), a unique pan-disability, draft-based franchise cricket tournament. This article establishes the DPL as a site of sociological importance – a neo-liberal, ableist environment that pushes the boundaries of what a disabled athlete and the disabled body should be. Our wide-ranging findings demonstrate the complex and interactional ways in which the disabled body dis/appears in sporting spaces and the significant embodied repercussions of this process
Are super shoes a super placebo? A randomised crossover trial in female recreational runners
No full textWe examined the potential placebo effect of advanced footwear technology (AFT) on running economy (RE) and perceptual measures while monitoring biomechanics. Twenty-four female recreational runners completed 4 × 6-minute RE trials in two pairs of women’s Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% 2. One pair was described as performance-enhancing super shoes with AFT worn by elite athletes, and the other pair was spray-painted black and described as ‘knock-off’ AFT shoes. Oxygen consumption (difference: −0.05 ± 0.47 mL·kg−1·min−1, d = −0.02), energy cost (difference: −0.02 ± 0.17 W·kg−1, d = −0.03), and discrete biomechanical variables were not significantly different between conditions. There were no significant differences between shoes in lower-extremity angular and angular velocity curves based on statistical parametric mapping. Overall comfort (100-mm visual analogue scale) was significantly greater (14.6 ± 15.0 mm, d = 0.94) in the performance-enhancing than ‘knock-off’ condition, with most runners (87.5%) preferring the former. Runners perceived running as more enjoyable and less difficult and perceived an improved running performance and lower injury risk in the performance-enhancing shoe (d = 0.72–1.16). While no significant physiological or biomechanical differences were observed, a significant placebo effect was apparent for both perceived comfort and perceived performance based on shoe description alone
From safeguarding to critical digital citizenship? A systematic review of approaches to online safety education
No full textOver the last two decades, online safety education has emerged as a new field of research focusing on concerns about a myriad of cyber risks. These risks range from online sexual exploitation through to the reproduction of social inequalities. The main assumption underlying this field is that online risks can be mitigated via educational interventions, and significant discrepancies can be observed between the proposed approaches to online safety education. In this article, we develop an analytical model based on prevalent concepts of digital citizenship and narratives of technologies to identify four different approaches to online safety education in the academic literature; that is, safeguarding, equipping, empowering and resisting. Each of these approaches draws on different assumptions on what constitutes as ‘online risk’ and ‘digital education’. Through a systematic literature review, we analyse 75 journal articles and examine the approaches to online safety education that these studies adopt. Our analysis reveals a dominance of approaches that adopt limited concepts of digital citizenship and acritical views of technology.
Context and implications. This article provides an analytical framework that transposes concepts of digital citizenship with narratives of technology. This framework is used to identify approaches towards online safety education in the literature.
The review found a problematic dominance of acritical views of digital citizenship and technology, which overlook the socio‐political contexts and implications of online safety education.
As this framework considers a broader and more politically situated range of online risks (from cyberbullying and digital exclusion through to discriminatory design and the tyranny of algorithms) and educational solutions (i.e., safeguarding, equipping, empowering and resisting), it serves to enrich current debates about ‘digital risks’ and has the potential to assist policymakers, researchers and educators to make critically informed decisions regarding online safety education
Studies on the coordination chemistry of functionalised thiourea ligands
No full textThis thesis explores the coordination chemistry of functionalized thiourea ligands with electron-withdrawing sulfonyl, phosphoryl and diacyl substituents. These ligands, despite their structural similarity to acylthioureas, exhibit unique coordination behaviours that have been largely understudied within the literature, particularly with platinum group and related late transition metals. By utilizing a series of characterization techniques, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and computational methods, this work aimed to establish foundational knowledge to inform future application-driven research within this research domain.
Firstly, dianionic sulfonylthiourea ligands were investigated towards platinum(II), revealing a distinct preference for distal isomer (coordinated via S,N-sulfonyl) which was found to be a result of a stabilizing chalcogen bond between thiourea sulfur and sulfonyl oxygen atoms. This non-covalent interaction, confirmed computationally and crystallographically, highlights the potential for modulating isomer selectivity of thiourea ligands through ligand design. Following this study, Chapter 3 extends the investigation of dianionic and monoanionic sulfonylthiourea ligands to organometallic ruthenium(II), iridium(III), and rhodium(III) in the piano stool arrangement. The resulting complexes demonstrated how steric factors influence isomerization and resulting coordination modes. While the proximal isomer persisted among the prepared complexes, using sufficient steric bulk around the metal centre, the distal isomer was formed, exhibiting proximal to distal isomerization in the liquid state. Anticancer assessments against various human cancer cell lines were performed externally which show moderate activity. Trends indicating enhanced efficacy through increased ligand lipophilicity were observed among the ruthenium(II) complexes. In Chapter 4, platinum(II) complexes with dianionic phosphorylthiourea ligands are characterized, revealing a consistent distal isomer preference modulated by bulky substituents. The inclusion of phosphorus atoms onto the ligand enhances characterization capabilities over similar ligands via ³¹P{¹H} NMR spectroscopy, providing a robust tool for elucidating coordination modes. Chapter 5 introduces symmetric diacylated thioureas as versatile ligands for platinum(II), palladium(II), and gold(III). Their coordination mode, forming four-membered S,N coordinated metallocycles, contrasts with the related monoacylated acylthiourea analogues. Moreover, the inclusion of a second acyl group onto the thiourea core allows for additional chalcogen and hydrogen bonding interactions which dominate the structure of the complex. Finally, Chapter 6 presents a ruthenium cymene complex featuring a neutral monodentate diacylthiourea ligand. Non-covalent interaction analysis identifies chalcogen and hydrogen bonding as determining the structural arrangement, reinforcing the importance of these features in future applications.
Collectively, this thesis provides a comprehensive foundation for understanding the coordination chemistry of functionalized thiourea ligands bearing electronegative substituents, opening avenues for their tailored use in fields ranging from catalysis to medicinal chemistry
Electronic circuitry for shaping current pulses for small scale transcranial magnetic stimulation coils
No full textTranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses electromagnetic induction to induce electric currents in brain tissue via a time-varying magnetic field from a coil, stimulating neuronal activity. While extensively studied in humans, small animal TMS coils are less explored, presenting challenges due to the high currents needed and heating issues from coil size and core hysteresis. This research focuses on the development of a new pulse generator tailored for TMS applications, with a specific emphasis on small-scale systems designed for animal studies. A supercapacitor-based design was implemented to serve as the power source, offering a compact, cost-effective solution for generating stable voltage pulses. The pulse generator demonstrated the ability to produce magnetic fields ranging 200 – 400 mT with an input of 1 V, making it a highly efficient tool for small animal TMS coils. In an effort to simplify pulse shaping without using complex circuitry, a mosfet was used as a dynamic element to control current. A triangular gate voltage waveform was introduced. This approach allowed for finer control over critical parameters such as rise time, fall time, and pulse width, which are key to TMS pulse optimization. In order to optimize pulse shape, a Matlab model to predict the behavior of coil current based on varying input gate voltage was developed. This model, which is based on a newly derived equation, align well with experimental data and enables the precise customization of pulse characteristics. It provides a valuable frame work for optimizing new and existing pulse shapes. This research demonstrates the supercapacitor-based pulse generator and its accompanying Matlab model for small-scale TMS applications. The flexibility in pulse generation and the ability to create custom pulse shapes provide a strong foundation for future exploration in TMS research, particularly for animal studies